Walking Shadows Vol. 3 Deep Dive – General Overview of the Season

So what is the faux reality show “The Little Sleep” featured in Walking Shadows Vol. 3? And what does this dystopian future world we’re envisioning look like where such a show could exist? Creator/Director of Walking Shadows, Sally McLean, gives an overview of this world she’s created in the second of a series of explainers for this current season.

Thinking about the world as it stands right now, I suddenly had a thought – what if A.I. became so convenient a tool and moved far enough along in its capabilities that advertisers decided to essentially let A.I. generate all the content for things like commercials – all commercials?

We already have A.I. generated Instagram and TikTok influencers that are making money, and plenty of cheap A.I. generated ads, so this further leap in how all advertising might be produced isn’t too far a stretch.

From that, I thought about entertainment offerings on TV and streaming and thought – what if reality TV went the same way? The contestants would be real people, maybe, but the host, the indents, the rest of the content, everything else, including the voting processes could be run by A.I., overseen potentially by a human, but eventually maybe that wouldn’t even be necessary.

In a world where we are consuming more screen content than ever, what would stop a TV network from cutting costs dramatically and using new technology in this way? Drama and Comedy is protected (for now) by new agreements struck with actors’ and writers’ unions around the world, but cheap reality TV going this way is, again, not much of a stretch. Large corporations, such as Disney have been using A.I. for a while and are now actively exploring their options with the technology to create content, and Lionsgate have just announced a new partnership with A.I. firm Runway with a view to generating new content, so this is definitely the way things are going in the entertainment sphere.

Add to that the state of global politics – with disinformation, divisive rhetoric and, right now, a lot of cat memes, and what would A.I. – and the general public’s social media and other published content it learns it’s ethics from – in a few years see as acceptable as entertainment?

And so the idea of “The Little Sleep” – a reality TV show, using death row inmates as contestants who don’t actually know they’re on a reality TV show, where the general public vote on who will get a pardon and who will be left to die – was born.

While I’ll do a deeper dive into the “show within a show” aspect of Walking Shadows Vol. 3 later, this idea of death row prisoners having no value in the future and therefore being able to be exploited however authorities see fit – mixed with an benevolent dictatorship global government and A.I. being given free reign to run just about everything – including our prison system – seemed fertile ground for not only seeing Shakespeare’s characters on death row, but also seeing some characters on death row who, by our current standards, shouldn’t actually be there.

But why are they all speaking Shakespearean language? Taking the idea of insisting that everyone be the same, or else they are “othered” and devalued as citizens (or worse), which is happening right now around the world, it’s not too big a stretch to see that maybe individual cultures could be lost. Which would be a tragedy. But who would the world turn to for a global culture?

Shakespeare is the most read author ever globally (alongside Agatha Christie – who I also love), selling 2 billion plus copies of his plays to date, so it is a natural progression to think that maybe, with Shakespeare being seen – rightly or wrongly – as the paragon of intellectual culture, the world might begin to elevate him even further, adopting his speech and also potentially Elizabethan culture and attitudes. To be honest, in some quarters, certain attitudes in certain sections of society today would fit right into the Elizabethan mindset, especially in regards to women and “foreigners”, so again, not much of a stretch.

With a history of high culture being co-opted into extreme regimes to give them legitimacy, plus Conservatives (and humanity generally) being prone to sentimentality about the past – it’s not too big a leap to think that maybe we would start to pick aspects of Elizabethan culture to adopt in every day life as well.

The Tudor Beeswax commercial I shared earlier (and which I write more about here), which states that “stylish facial hair is the sign of true civilization”, based on the Elizabethan male’s proclivity for goatees, beards and moustaches is a relatively benign example of that. Read any interior design or fashion magazine article today and they will use similar language, albeit not Shakespearean, when advertising a rediscovered historical design style influenced trend, line of furniture or clothing.

And so, I envisioned a future where we have all become so desensitised to extreme views, disingenuous politics, misinformation and disinformation, have handed our fate over to a benevolent dictator, see those as “other” as breaking the law and deserving of death, but at the same time are enamoured with those who, no matter how awful they are, if they are entertaining will get our clicks, and finally – due to spending so much time on our screens and losing touch with what’s real or fake – are prepared to, with a thought, condemn fellow humans to death and then never think about it again.

Is it dark? Yes. Is it a warning? Yes, but mine is not the only voice saying these things. Is there hope? I like to think so. I’m an optimist, so I always try to look on the bright side. But, I’ll admit, it’s been tough these last few months, particularly with all that’s going on in the world. But, like Shakespeare, I do like to think that humanity, for all it’s flaws, has positive traits. And I’m hoping that we’ll all listen to our better angels when we have a chance to decide our and our fellow humans futures.

Time will tell.

Sally McLean
Creator/Director
Walking Shadows Vol. 3